Alan B

I agree with you to some extent about raising the living standards sometimes reduces the number of children in some Western countries, and I'm certainly not endorsing a policy such as China recently introduced or compulsory sterilisation. It's more the accepted attitude of increasing the population that increases the expansion of growth without looking at some of its its deleterious consequences.

"One for Dad, one for Mum and one for the country" Everyone still seems to celebrate large families. People still congratulate multiple births. Religions encourage large families because it also increases the spread of their faith. No one considers the cost of education, health or the poverty this often creates and indeed so many countries still provide subsidies to have children. Expansion is the name of the game from just about every government on this planet.

It is reliably estimated that it will require multiple planets the size of our own to provide the same "standard of living" we Westerners now enjoy. It just might result in the war you mention and that's not the way to fix the problem of course.

It would appear that Labor is panicking in Queensland and clearly has opted to protect its inner-city seats from the greens and ditch the regional seats that Labor probably wasn't going to win anyway. The sudden backflip on Adani will sink any future hopes that labor had for the regions.

The moment people talk about Adani, most facts are thrown out of the window.

Lie 1 - Stopping Adani will save the reef.
Reality: there are many billions of tonnes of undeveloped coal ready to be mined and burnt, most of poorer quality and higher emissions than from the Galilee Basin. Finding alternate generation such as nuclear will lower emissions and reduce demand for coal.

Lie 2 - Adani Coal is of a poor quality,
Reality: It is far far better quality than the brown coal powering Victoria, and better than most coal on the global market.

Foxy, Thanks for your link, but there are several critical facts that are missing from Nick Touran's article on Thorium:

1, While the total quantities of thorium and uranium are equal, presently only U235 is used which is only 0.5% of natural uranium and requires very expensive enrichment, whilst all the thorium can be used.
2, Thorium in its natural state has such a low level of radiation that virtually no precautions are required, whilst uranium is not nearly so safe.
3, Thorium does produce U233, which theoretically can produce nukes, but in reality is so dangerously radioactive that any weapons made of U233 would be so difficult and dangerous to handle that this is not a serious concern.
4, Thorium reactors were not taken up because whilst their main feature of being intrinsically safe is a big plus, it certainly couldn't be made small enough for nuclear ships and subs.

Read somewhere that the Great Barrier Reef covers an area one and a half times the size of Great Britain.

So one large coal mine many kilometres from the sea is going to cause the demise of the reef?

//So one large coal mine many kilometres from the sea is going to cause the demise of the reef?//

Probably not... I think the concerns about the reef are a bit of a beat up. I'm more concerned about the potential effects on the Great Artesian Basin, with subsequent knock-on effects for agriculture.

Do you reckon the crooked Mr. Adani will be forking out to compensate any farmers whose livelihood he ruins?

A shipwreck will stop coral bleaching:
Coal has a higher density than water (and thus would not float):
Quote:
Anthracite: specific gravity = 1.47
Bituminous: specific gravity = 1.32
Subbituminous: specific gravity = 1.30
Lignite: specific gravity = 1.29

'Probably not... I think the concerns about the reef are a bit of a beat up. I'm more concerned about the potential effects on the Great Artesian Basin, with subsequent knock-on effects for agriculture. '

you are probably right Toni but with the dishonest Greens opposed to every mining project in the country who would know. Meanwhile they enjoy flying around the country in air conditioned comfort (thanks to wind farms). They are chief hypocrites.